Automatic stock-watering apparatus.



No; 648,953. atented May a, 1900.

. J. H. HANSON.

AUTOMATIC STOCK WATERING APPARATUS.

(Application filed 1390.23. 1899.)

(No Modei.)

STATES PATENT Enron,

JOHN H. HANSON, OAKLAND, NEBRASKA.

AUTOMATIC STOCK-WATERING APPARATUS.

$PECIFICATION' forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 648,953, dated May 8,1900. Application filed December 23, 1899- $erial No. 741,360- (Nomodel.)

To all whom it mayconcern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. HANSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oakland, in the county of Burt and State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Stock-WateringApparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My presentinvention relates to certain new and useful improvements inautomatic stockwatering apparatus; and it has for its prime object toprovide anapparatus of this type that will be automatic in operation,easily drained, and thoroughly clean.

It is one purpose of the invention to prov vide a novel form ofwatering-trough con- In order to enable others to understand,

make, and employ mysaid invention, I will proceed to describe the samein detail, reference being had for this purpose to the accompanyingdrawings,'wherein- Figure 1 is a side view of my improved stockwateringsystem,showing several troughs in position for use within a barn or likestructure. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of my improved troughs,showing the hinged tray and lid or cover partially lifted. Figs. 3 and 4are longitudinal sectional views of the trough, and Fig. 5 is atransverse sectional View of the same. Referring now to the drawings,and particularly to Fig. 1, I have shown a plurality of watering-troughsin the position they would assume'when placed in the different stalls tobe supplied with water, all of said troughs being connected and suppliedfrom a common water-chamber 4, the entrance of water inv which iscontrolled bya float-valve such as shown and described in my copendingapplication, SerialNo. 741,090, filed December 21, 1899, although anyother suitable form of antomatic valve may be employed, if desired.Leading from the water-chamber 4 is a pipe 5, which may extend into abarn or other place to be supplied, and attached to said pipe are aseries of watering-troughs 6 of novel c011- struction. At the end ofthis pipe I attach a sediment vessel 7 to catch and retain any substancethat may pass through the supplypipe, said sediment vessel beingprovided with a draw-off cock 8, as shown. I also provide'a cock 9 toclose off communication with the sediment vessel and another cock 10inthe supply-pipe 5, whereby some of the troughs may be put out of servicewhen desired. Leading from the three-way cock 2 is a drain-pipe 11,which may extend to a cesspool or other suitable place, said drainpipeoperating, when the three-way cock is turned to communicate therewith,to drain the water from the several troughs and also from thewater-chamber and conduct the same away to the cesspool. This operationis desirable in extremely-cold weather in order to drain the troughs andpipes to prevent freezing. The three-way cock is operated by a suitablewrench or rod 12, which may be guided to its operative position by meansof a pipe sunk into the ground. It will now be seen that if thethree-way cock is opened to communicate with the pipes 1 and 3 waterwill flow through said pipes into the waterchamber, from whence it willenter theseveral troughs, the height of water in... said troughs beingregulated and controlled by the float-valve in the water-chamber, saidfloat-valve acting at all times to keep the water in the troughs at acertain predetermined level, as is well understood. It now it is desiredto drain the troughs and pipes, it is simply necessary to turn thethree-way cock so that the side port therein will communicate with thedrain-pipe 11, closing elf the supply-pipe or water-main, and the waterin said troughs will then flow back and out through said drain-pipe.

I will now proceed with a detailed description of my improvedwatering-trough heretofore alluded to and which I consider to be ofnovel construction. These troughs each comprise a main vessel orreceptacle 6, havin g a supplementary vessel 14 hinged thereto at oneside, as at 15, said supplementary vessel being arranged to enter andrest within the main vessel and is provided with a plurality ofperforations 16 in its bottom and also in the rear or hinged side, asshown, to admit water from the main vessel to pass into the same. Thissupplemental vessel 14 is also provided around its sides and ends withdepending flanges 17, which serve to prevent the entrance of straw orother refuse into the main vessel. In order to prevent the entrance ofstraw and the like into the supplemental vessel 14, I provide a yieldingcover 18 for the same, said cover being pivoted or hinged at one end toa rod 19, which passes through the supplemental vessel 14 and throughthe sides 20 of the cover 18. This cover is yieldingly supported bymeans of a spring-wire coiled at two points 21 about the rod 19 andformed intermediate said coils with a downwardlyextending loop 22, whichbears upon the rear inner side of the supplemental vessel 14, and theends 23 of said spring extend outward or forward and act under tensionupon the under side of the cover 18, so as to yieldingly support thesame in a horizontal position over the body of water in the trough. Toreach the water, the cover 18 is depressed by the nose of the animaluntil the water rises above it, as seen in Fig. 4, and when ,thepressure is removed the spring will return the cover to its horizontalposition, securely closing the trough against litter. On the top of thesupplemental vessel 14, adjacent to the hinged end of the cover, is asliding bolt 24, one end of which is provided with a suitable handle,said bolt being arranged to enter an opening 25 in the end flange ofsaid cover when the forward end of the latter is depressed, thus lockingthe same in such depressed position, as clearly shown in Fi 4, in orderto expose the water above the same.- This means for holding the coverdepressed is employed for teaching the animal to use the trough, forwhen he has once found that water lies below the cover he will soonlearn to depress the latter when water is desired. A similar bolt 26 isplaced at the opposite end of the cover,which may be caused to enter anopening 27 in.the front flange of the cover, and by this means the saidcover can be retained in its horizontal position above the water toprevent the animal from obtaining water when he is too warm.

In order to clean the trough, the supplemental vessel 1-l is lifted andturned quickly over on its hinges in an inverted position, at

the same time opening or raising the cover, and the water and othercontents will flow out. The main trough 0 can then be wiped out andcleaned as desired and the supplemental vessel returned to its place.

The troughs are each connected to the main supply-pipe 5 by a branch 28,which may enter either the bottom or side of the trough, as desired, thepipe-opening being covered by a screen 29 to prevent the entrance ofsolid impurities into the trough.

In practice the water will be turned on at such times as it is neededand the state or condition of the weather will permit until the troughsare all filled and then turned off, particularly during extremely-coldor freezing weather.

Minor changes or additions may be made without departing from the spiritof my invention.

\Vhat I claim is- 1. In astock-wateriug system, the combination with amain supply-pipe, of a three-way cock controlling the flow of waterthrough said pipe, a drain-pipe leading from said cock, a water-chambercommunicating by a pipe with the cook, a float-valve controlling theentrance of water into said chamber, a servicepipe leading from thechamber, a watering trough or troughs communicating with theservice-pipe, and a sediment vessel at the end of theservice-pipe,substantially as described.

2. A watering-trough comprising a main vessel, and supplemental vesselhaving a bottom, side and end walls, said supplemental vessel beinghinged to one side of the main vessel and normally nesting therein, butadapted to be swung out to an inverted position, and provided withwater-inlet openings to receive water from the main vessel,substantially as described.

3. In a watering-trough, the combination with a main vessel, of asupplemental vessel hinged thereto and adapted to nest therein, saidsupplemental vessel being provided with water-inlet openings, and acover hinged to the supplemental vessel and adapted to be depressedwithin the same, substantially as described.

l. In a watering-trough, the combination with a main vessel, of asupplemental vessel hinged thereto and normally resting within the same,said supplemental vessel being pro- IIO vided with water-inlet openings,and a yield- 'vided with water-inlet openings,a cover hinged to thesupplemental vessel and adapted to be depressed within the latter, and aspring acting upon the under side of the cover to normally hold the samein a horizontal position, substantially as described.

6. In a watering-trough, the combination with a main vessel, of asupplemental vessel hinged to the main vessel and provided around itsedges with depending flanges Which lie over the edges of the main vesselwhen the parts are in position, said supplemental vessel being providedWith Water-inlet openings, substantially as described.

7. In a watering-trough, the combination with a main vessel, of asupplemental vessel resting therein, a cover hinged to the supplementalvessel and adapted to be depressed therein, and means for locking thecover depressed, substantially as described.

8. A Watering-trough having a movable cover adapted to be depressedwithin the trough, and means for locking the cover depressed,substantially as described.

9. Awatering-trough havinga cover hinged thereto adapted to be depressedwithin the trough, and means for locking the cover depressed,substantially as described.

10. A Watering-trough having a yielding cover hinged thereto and adaptedto be depressed within the trough, and a bolt for looking the coverdepressed, substantially as described.

11. A Watering-trough havinga depressible cover normally lying in ahorizontal plane Within the trough, and means for locking the cover agaiust m0vement,when in its depressed and horizontal positions,substantially as de- I scribed.

12. A watering-trough having a yielding cover hinged thereto and adaptedto be depressed Within the trough, said cover nor mally lying in ahorizontal plane, and means for locking said cover against movement,substantially as described.

13. In a Watering-trough, the combination with a main vessel, of asupplemental vessel hinged thereto and normally lying Within the same, ayielding cover hinged to said supplemental vessel and adapted to bedepressed therein, and bolts for locking the cover, substantially asdescribed.

14. In a Watering-trough, the combination with a main vessel, of asupplemental vessel hinged thereto at one end and normally restingwithin the same, said supplemental vessel beingprovided with Water-inletopenings, a yielding cover hinged at one end to the last named vessel,a'spring for normally holding the cover in a horizontal position, andlocking-bolts for the cover, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

, JOHN H. HANSON.

IVitnesses:

VICTOR L. FRIED, JOHN J. MoOoUR'r.

